A meerkat 'helper' and its pupils
Credit: Science
SYDNEY: Humans might not be the only ones actively to teach their young skills, as new evidence in today's issue of the U.S. journal Science shows that wild meerkats may have similar teaching abilities.
Little evidence of teaching has been found in non-human animals however there has been "a number of very suggestive studies, particularly on domestic cats and cheetahs," said Alex Thornton, co-author and zoologist from the University of Cambridge, U.K.
Earlier this year a study on a species of British ant provided the first solid evidence for teaching in animals. Now it seems that meerkats are also showing signs of teaching abilities. "The main reason why teaching evolved in meerkats is that young pups very rarely find difficult prey items themselves," said Thornton.
Meerkat diets consist of a lot of food such as insect larvae and pupae which are easy to handle. But in order for young pups to survive it is essential that they learn how to handle difficult prey items like scorpions and lizards as they make up a "significant proportion of their diet and are of high nutritional value," said Thornton.
Along with co-author and fellow zoologist Katherine McAuliffe, Thornton showed that older meerkats, who act as ‘helpers', assist in teaching young pups their live prey-handling skills through directed mechanisms. These included encouraging pups by nudging prey items towards them or removing the stingers from live scorpions before letting the pups take a bite.
Meerkats were also found to change their teaching behaviours as pups became older and more competent in handling live prey. Meerkats put a lot of time and effort into the pups' development yet it proves costly as they do not receive any direct short-term benefits.
"Pup handling skills improve with practice, but were it not for the helpers' assistance, opportunities to practise these critical skills would be entirely lacking," said Thornton. "Helper teaching behaviour is therefore fantastically important in accelerating pup development."
Teaching in wild meerkats demonstrates that teaching in animals does not have to be complex or be restricted to big-brained species, thus leaving the door open for future studies of a similar nature, not only with other animal species but in humans as well.
"A greater understanding of the evolution of teaching is essential if we are to further our knowledge of how human culture evolved and for us to examine the relations between culture in our own species and cultural behaviour in other animals," said Thornton.
